Speeches by Jopp.

“Before the general election, the Chancellor said that this would be the most pro-business Government ever. She spoke recently at The Times CEO summit. Before she was introduced to the CEOs, the host asked how many of them thought that this Government are still pro-business, and not a single hand went up. Why does the C…”

“The Mercure hotel in Stanwell in my constituency is used to house asylum seekers, and I have had multiple reports of asylum seekers there working illegally. Will the Department please put that on immigration enforcement’s radar, so that it can take the appropriate action?”

“Permanent secretary, when you came to speak to us in November, you said that over the course of this Parliament you were going to reduce the number of permanent civil servants by 10%. I wonder, seven months on, how you are getting on.”

“So you are prepared to welcome the ends but not the means.”

“When you speak to your opposite number in the US, how understanding are they about the fact that the Government have not been able to support them publicly?”

“Secretary of State, I like you, but I also like Mr Twigg, because Mr Twigg asks great questions. He asked you, on the tactical nuclear capability, why did we not go for a sovereign capability? Why did we go for a dual key? You gave him a very long answer, but you did not answer that question. Will you give it another g…”

“Did we have the option to have a UK sovereign tactical nuclear capability?”

“I want to come in on the back of the defence reform and the drive to speed things up. Obviously, getting defence export licences has pretty much ground to a halt within the last 12 months—defence companies in my constituency tell me it is much, much slower. As part of the reform reorganisation, would the Department con…”

“Secretary of State, was the recent US military action against Iran legal, in the view of MOD lawyers?”

“If we are totally as one with the US—that is the phrase you just used—why can you not say publicly that you support the US’s actions?”

“It is a please to serve under your chairmanship, Mr Mundell. I congratulate the hon. Member for Cramlington and Killingworth on bringing forward this Bill. I have only one question for the Minister to answer in his summing up. On reducing the notice given to providers from seven to two years, I agree with the character…”

“Ametek, a defence manufacturer in my constituency, has reported to me that the process of getting a defence export licence has almost ground to a halt in the past 12 months. Could the Ministry of Defence send someone sufficiently threatening round to the Department for Business and Trade—perhaps the Veterans Minister—t…”

“My hon. Friend pre-empts one of the many benefits of floating solar that I will highlight to the House. He remembers his physics highers well, because the placing of floating solar reduces evaporation from the body that is covered by 70%. Given that the vast majority of the water in our reservoirs is lost through evapo…”

“I am delighted to see the House so full for this Adjournment debate. I want hon. Members who are staying to remember who was here. Indeed, people in the Public Gallery might wish to make a note in their diary, too, because I hope that I will in some way blow the House’s mind with what I am about to say and sow a seed t…”

“The former Prime Minister has just welcomed the US military action against Iran at the weekend. Why cannot the Prime Minister bring himself to welcome it, too?”

“I do not know if the Leader of the House is aware that if we installed just 15% of floating solar panels on the man-made reservoirs in this country, we would double the installed base of solar power without having to put a single new solar panel on agricultural land. I know what she is thinking: “If only some plucky Ba…”

“The post-covid backlog in driving tests was trending down under the last Government. At the time of the general election, it had got to 521,000, which was still too high, but it was coming down. Since this Government took over, the number has rocketed up to 600,000, a new record high, meaning that constituents like Oli…”

“11. What steps she is taking to reduce the backlog for driving tests.”

“I wonder whether the taskforce has engaged with the company that runs the Queen Elizabeth solar farm; it is called Bluefield—very clever name; very clever company. It wrote to the Secretary of State earlier in the year, some four months ago, but is yet to receive a reply. I would be grateful to know whether the Departm…”

“I just point out to the Minister that she could save herself a vast amount of political pain, because, apart from a few swans that I saw, a couple of seagulls and one man from the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds, there ain’t many people who are going to complain about putting floating solar on raised reservoi…”